GU NUTRITION CLINIC AT MTN SPORTS

May 25th Mountain Sports was kind enough to let me host a Gu Nutrition Clinic at the store to promote  my nutritional sponsor for my running, GU ENERGY LABS.

I was first introduced to GU when I was a freshman at ETSU in 1997 when i ran track, fred warren the head men's golf coach gave me a case of "just plain" and "vanilla bean" and I would take them  immediately BEFORE practice or events.

Well, This company has travelled far in the past 16 yrs. Developing a range of electrolyte replacement powders, tablets, Recovery powder, gel in more solid form ( GU CHOMPS) and Gel containing Amino Acid (  GU ROCTANE) in addition to the traditional Gu formula.

Downtown Bristol was hosting a Memorial day weekend 5k called Bill Gatton Freedom 5k. This is an annual event, very well organized, it benefits MS research and MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION ( 2 WONDERFUL CAUSES)  I've seen the race participants #'s grow every year, so thought it would be awesome to have the Gu clinic in conjunction with the race. So Gu was nice enough to donate swag to the runners from the Freedom 5k who came to the clinic. These runners were gifted with not only Gu samples but their choice of  Defeet Socks with the Gu sunburst logo or a headsweats brand running cup with the GU sunburst embroidered on it. EXTREMELY NICE. THANK YOU GU ENERGY LABS!!

 I strided out the 5k in 21:25, 4th overall female ( for a 5k! ) and  won my age group. I felt good, I pushed a little at the beginning because of the cool weather I feel. it was 40F at the start ( we have had an usually cold spring until last week)  but where I was running old dominion 100 the following week, I decided to just keep it under control, and that the race was what I needed to "get the wiggles out" and spent the rest of the time after the race, telling everyone to come to mtn sports for the GU clinic.

my good friend, Kathryn and I at the finish line/awards ceremony post race. 

 I pull up to mtn sports after the race and the parking lot is already full!! ( I had set up the tent, tables  and made the GU BREW at 6am that morning with the help of mark and steve) So all had to do was get out the samples and swag and VOLIA! let the fun begin! We were absolutely slammed for a couple of hours. I never got to give a formal presentation, but each person that came through i got to explain the difference in each product and what their specific function was. Many of my friends from the running, trail running, ultra running, mountain biking and road biking communities came to the clinic that day, ( the mtn sports crew said they thought about 75-100 runners from the 5k came into the store that day alone)  and we had many different conversations about fueling and I just discussed how specifically I personally fuel during an ultra, and another conversation I felt I had over and over was the difference between GU original and Gu Roctane. 

Sampling the goods!! 

  it really meant alot to me my friends ( you know who you are !! and you guys are AWESOME) who came out to support me that day. I really hope everyone can see I'm trying to make a more positive impact by promoting ultrarunning, trail running, and just being active outside in general.  I'm Trying to get as many people involved in the sport as I can.  I know what a positive difference it's made in my life, and I just love sharing my passion with others.  I'm so grateful for my job at Mountain Sports, it never really feels like a job. Extremely happy to get to learn  all about the retail side of the outdoor industry.  LOVE IT.

let me say a couple things about GU Energy:
This is a company where GOOD people work. This isn't a huge company, yet they do BIG THINGS, and accomplish a lot.   Most of the employees are athletes just like you and me: runners, bikers of all levels of speed who just love being on the road or trail and love what they do. They were kind enough to share their swag and samples they needed for expos, tradeshows etc with me do this clinic. Because the event I did at mountain sports isn't pre packaged or "canned". It was something in the end, I completely felt  strongly compelled to do to promote for GU,  get more runners and trail runners to Mountain sports, and establish more of a community there at the store.  I am so humbled, appreciative and THANKFUL for the people at GU energy who helped make this happen and who shared so I could do this event The  GU clinic was AWESOME, I know it exposed more people to their products. SO,  my readers-- BUY GU!! because these guys are AWESOME, and make AWESOME endurance nutritional products.